Thirty K
by Angela and MiniMix
Summary: Thirty oneshots, all centered on a different theme. 11-Maybe the moths are the beautiful ones, and it's the butterfly who is so ugly.
1. Chess

-shifty eyes- I'm not actually doing a 30kisses, I just wanted to do a bunch of different pieces centered on a single theme, and mix and matching various 30kisses lists was a good way to center on one theme.

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Theme 21: chess

Misa was never very good at chess.

And still she was here, between L and Light, in a chess match that could very well mean the end of her life.

She hated chess. And she hated being on both sides. L's ebony black pawn, and Light's snow white Queen. Oh, they didn't think she knew, but Misa was smart, much smarter than she'd ever let them realize. If they knew she was smarter than she let on, then push and shove would become bend and break and she didn't think she could take that.

Instead, she played the silly blonde girl and let them dance their little dance.

Secretly, she hoped that when the game was over, she'd be the last one standing.

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I know this one's kinda short, but. Eh. I'll update this as I write them and when I feel like it, pretty much. -wanders off to find food-


	2. Ceramic Cow

...This in the cow's POV. Sort of. -coughs-

Also, MAJOR credit to Mikanis' "Truth". It was while reading that story that my brain sparked and this came into existance after a week of nothing working right.

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Theme 15; Ceramic cow

The ceramic cow once sat on a desk, before it was given to the thrift shop, where it had spent almost a year on a backshelf collecting dust.

But that was before L Lawliet found it.

Now the cow sat on a window sill of a little boy's bedroom, watching over the boy in goggles as he played his video games or talked to the blond boy with the chocolate and the fiery temper. The white haired one, the quiet one, sometimes smiled at the cow.

It never moved, only watched, but somewhere in it's ceramic conciousness, it was happy.

But good things never last.

There came a day when the blond boy and his fire and chocolate and leather had had enough of the boy with the goggles and his video games.

Now the cow is in pieces, hidden away in a box at the very back of the boy's closet.

Someday, he'll glue her back together and she'll take back her place on the window sill to watch over him.


	3. Memories in a box

Hey look, a sheep! -shot-

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Theme 29; memories in a box

Near owned hundreds of toys. And he remembered where every last one of them had come from, and when.

The Optimus Prime figure had been from Roger, for his first Christmas at Wammy's.

The finger puppets had been from L on his birthday last year.

His toybox overflowed with all the toys and puzzles.

In the middle of the floor was an easy bake oven. Mello had given him that one.

Then he'd demanded that Near use it to make him chocolate cakes every morning or he'd take it back.

The stuffed mushroom on his bed was from Matt. He said it'd give Near an extra life the next time Mello tried to flush his head down a toilet. Near didn't think it would, but he supposed it never hurt to try, right?

Near had so many toys that they didn't fit in the toybox, but that was alright.

It wasn't really a toybox anymore, anyway. It was a box of memories.


	4. Demon among angels

Annnd here's another one.

Sometimes I just need to sleep to get the brainjuices flowing.

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**Theme 14; demon among angels**

They were angels, the lot of them. Justice's angels, destined to save the world. The ones with white wings who would soar to the greatest heights and save mankind.

Ad he, he was he one with the black wings, a demon among angels, masquerading as one of them, taking their trust and dragging them down to the depths of hells alongside him. He was marring their pretty white wings with his own disgusting black ones.

But no. That was not right at all.

No. He was Justice himself, greatest angel of the ones he surrounded himself with. He alone could guide these ones on their path, save humanity. Only he could keep the world from descending into madness.

L was a pretty liar, when he lied to himself.


	5. Stolen Identity

Well. ...I like sheep, really I do.

They're so warm and cuddly! -huggles Near- So, don'thatemekthxbaiNear. -runs away from Near before she's shot-**

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****Theme 22 stolen identity**

Near gripped the action figure tightly for a long time after he cut contact off with Light Yagami.

Light had stolen L's name.

Light had no right to L's name.

He was angrier than he'd ever been, angrier even than Mello had ever made him. He heard a soft _snap_ as the action figure broke in two in his palm. He-and perhaps Mello but Mello was dead now, broken in half with his best friend Matt, Near was the last of three now so they didn't matter anymore; lucky bastards- was the only one who could use L's name now that L was gone.

L was dead, and Light had no right to sully Near's memory of the detective by stealing his very identity and using it to lie to the world.

The halves of the figure slid from his fingers to the floor and he watched the dice city crumble.


	6. Fall from Glory

Hey look. Someone new. O:

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**Theme 4; fall from grace/glory**

Light had never realized up until now that his fall from grace had begun the moment he'd picked up the Note.

He'd fallen so far and so hard that until he hit the dirt he didn't even know he was falling.

Picking up the Note had begun the fall, but meeting L had been the end of it.

It only took nine years for him to realize it. L had died, but he'd taken Light's humanity with him when he'd gone.

And Near. Stupid,_ stupid Near._ Little boy playing the big boy's game and _beating_ the big boys, and he never even put down his stupid toys. The boy who couldn't even _walk_ had defeated _God_.

It wasn't _right_ at all.

He hit the ground with a _splat_ and that was that.

God had fallen, the Devil had won and Light was _damned_ in all of his glory for the rest of ever.


	7. Oranges

Oh, look. Matsuda joined us this time. Li'l bit of LxMatsuda crack!fluff type stuff for you guys.

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Theme 16; oranges

Matsuda sometimes wondered if L ate anything other than cake when the rest of the team was gone.

He could understand his claim that the sugar helped his reasoning ability, but even the great L needed vegetables and fruit at some point too, right? He couldn't actually expect his diet of sweets and cake to keep him alive, could he?

It was this line of reasoning that had led to his being locked in a closet with L and two oranges.

It was L's fault they were locked in, really. Matsuda had commented on his diet and offered an orange, and that's where he lost all sense of what had happened between the offering and the click from the door being locked on the outside.

The cramped space and extreme closeness of L was getting to him.

L smelled like strawberry shortcake, he mused.

"It's awfully cramped in here," L commented. "And there's a five percent chance we won't be found for awhile."

"We'll run out of air."

"Well, I doubt that. there is a crack between the floor and the bottom of the door, so in theory, we can't actually run out of air in this closet."

"In theory?"

"Yes."

"...That's not very comforting."

"I apologize. Are those oranges?"

Matsuda held them up a bit as L stared at them. "Yes, they are. May I have one?"

"Sure." He let him take one of the two before squirming away enough to begin peeling the second one. "I love oranges."

"Do you?" he asked, studying the one in his hand. "I find they're not very high in sugar, so I don't eat them normally. May I eat this one?"

"I offered it before we were locked in here," Matsuda pointed out.

"So you did. Thank you." L shuffled slightly, getting comfortable before peeling the orange. The smell of the oranges mixing with L's strawberry shortcake smell was intoxicating, Matsuda decided. It'd make a wonderful perfume.

--

They were in the closer for an hour before they were found and released.

No one thought to ask Matsuda why he'd been pressed so hard against the door when they'd been found.

And neither Matsuda nor L felt the need to explain.


	8. Dolls

Reallyreallyreally short, yo. But it's B, so. Yeah.

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**Theme 30; dolls**

Glossy eyes like little mirrors reflecting himself back but the reflections were warped and he was twisted about in the eyes of the dolls.

They sat at the table, jam staining their lips, redredred like blood but sweeter, oh so much sweeter.

The laugh of a madman, and the letter _B_ or was it _L_? L and B, B and L, which was it? Same same same, but so very different, B for beyond, B for backup, B for better. _Betterbetterbetter B was always better than _L.

And his dolls bled.


	9. Life Cycle of a Fire

And here's Mello.

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**Theme 10; Life cycle of a fire**

Watching Mello was like watching fire.

Oh so pretty as it danced and leapt and cast twisting shadows across the wall but then you reach out to feel the flame, just one touch only one, and it _hurt_. You yank your hand back with a hiss and cradle it, trying to nurse the burns because for a second you forgot that while it was pretty pretty beautiful dancer, it was _fire_ and it bit and snapped and _burned_ anything it touched.

Mello burned. He burned Matt, he burned Near, he even burned L. Like a bright shiningshiningshootingstar he leapt and danced and _burnt_ everything to the ground in his path.

Mello was a fire.

Oh, but sometimes he was an ember, smoldering but not yet a full-fledged fire, hidden under the ash and soil just waiting for his chance to break free and spark back to life in a blaze of glory and smoke.

Other times he was ash, only just after the fire was doused, still smoking but without the bite. That was when Matt loved him most.

And then he'd wake again, and there'd be fire and smoke and shadows twisting in his eyes.

Like the life cycle of a fire, Mello lived.

Lived, loved, died.

It was fitting that he'd died in a burning church, Near told himself when it was all over.

Mello had always been like fire after all.


	10. Q

I thank Neko because she went and looked up a random word for me, and it's her fault that L knows what "quadruplicate" means.

It came to me in a dream. L's name spoiler warning, and general chibi-adorableness in the form of a first grade classroom.

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Theme 6; Q

"Today's letter of the day, class, is the letter "Q." Who can tell me what words begin with q?" the teacher asked, looking out over the first grade class.

Light raised his hand. "Queen?"

"Very good Light. Queen begins with Q." The word was written on the board. "Does anyone else know one?"

"Queer!" called someone from the back. She smiled thinly.

"Yes, queer does too." This one wasn't written on the board.

More hands were raised.

"Misa?"

"Quack! Like a duck!"

"Very good Misa! Quack is a q word." Misa beamed.

"Quantum!" Light called out, looking pleased.

"You're very smart, Light," she said, smiling. Her eyes roamed the class before falling on little L sitting in the back corner, hunched over his desk and looking both bored and aggravated that he'd been forced to put his feet on the floor. He was chewing his thumb.

"Lawliet?" she asked. "Can you tell me a word that begins with q?"

He looked up slowly, and blinked. "Quadruplicate."

The entire class stared at him as the teacher blinked. "Pardon?"

"Quadruplicate. To make four identical copies of, adjective. One: Fourfold. Two: Being the last of four identical copies - noun; any of four such copies," he said slowly, as if he was the teacher and she the student.

"Y-yes, Lawliet. Very good. Quadruplicate is a q word," she said finally, before writing it on the board.

"You spelled it wrong. There's an a before the d," he said calmly, before going back to chewing his thumb and staring at his desk.

She paused before fixing it. "... I believe it's time to move onto math now, class. Get out your pencils please."


	11. Butterfly

Loooong time since I updated this particular fic. Whoops, sorry 'bout that. Enjoy.

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Theme 21: butterfly

It isn't until towards the end of his life that Matsuda really ever reflects on the Kira case. Things like _why did it have to happen that way?_ and _couldn't we have done something different to stop it, maybe before Kira ever became a God?_ are thoughts he hasn't had for along time, but they come back as loud now as they had been so many years ago, when Matsuda had been just a young cop working one of his first high profile cases.

He thinks sometimes that Light was a butterfly in a world of moths, and maybe that was why the boy had gone mad. Being the single most beautiful thing in the world could make anyone go crazy, he thinks. Like a flame, drawing everything closer to himself but burning burning burning it all away because none of them were ever beautiful, smart enough, _good enough_ for him. (Matsuda wonders if all butterflies think themselves better than the ugly little moths that make the butterflies beautiful in the first place.)

It's a pity, he decides, that in the end the butterfly had been eaten alive by the moths in some sort of sick cannibalistic form of Justice.

(Maybe the moths are the beautiful ones, and it's the butterfly who is so ugly.)


End file.
